Very sad and shortsighted of the EU Commission. Not sure what sort of stake Niki Lauda still has but irrespective he must be very sad. Considering they are already flying with LH’s support why not let the takeover happen and keep the jobs that will surely now go.

Niki Lauda had a backer to re-purchase the airline and it looked good since he knew how to run it.
German government and LH probably don’t like the competition and easyjet will be happy too since their euro airline is based in Austria.

From the articles above:
“The Austrian carrier [Niki] has since announced it will cancel all flights effective December 14.”
“Lufthansa’s bid for Niki… was blocked by the European Commission [since it] feared that Lufthansa Group … would gain a monopoly on most routes in Germany and Austria”

Am I the only person who notices the incongruity?

The Commission seem to think it is better to have competition shut down and reduce capacity than allow it to be taken over and maintain capacity.

The laws of supply and demand generally dictate that lower capacity without a change in demand leads to higher prices.

Which is better for the consumer – a monopoly with high demand and low capacity, or a monopoly with high demand and high capacity? I know which one I would opt for. What a shame the Commission think that a high-demand-low-supply monopoly is better than a high-demand-high-supply monopoly.